Tag: Wall Ball

5 Seconds Can Be A Long Time

Surprisingly I didn’t sleep very well last night. I figured being out in the sun would have me so wore out I’d sleep like a baby. I used the A/C in my room for the first time of the year too, so maybe that was it, but otherwise I would have been miserable hot.

Got to the gym a little after 9. Warmed up with 100 walking lunges and some bottom squat hold.

Squat Every Day

Jumping Back Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×75#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×115#
  • 5×135#

Pause Back Squats (5s in the hole)

  • 4×185#
  • 4×225#
  • 4×245#
  • 4×265#
  • 2×285#
  • 2×295#

Five seconds is a long time down there. Was starting to round on that final rep so it was a good stopping point. Makes 27 days. I wore the best starting at 245#.

Did an easy 800m run to start 10am class.

Conditioning

Partner Chipper

  • 200 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 150 American KBS (53#)
  • 100 Power Cleans (95#)
  • 50 Pull-ups

Teamed up with Bryan. We did sets of 20 wall balls, 15 swings, 5 cleans, and 5 pull-ups. The pull-ups sucked with no grip left and so much sweat dripping down on to the hands. Thought I might rip. We finished in 17:54.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 10 GHD MB Pass (14#)

Pretty simple.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (210#)

3 Weeks In

My HRV was down to 88 this morning from 100 yesterday. Hmmmm… I was pretty exhausted after being out in the sun walking 9 holes, but that still doesn’t seem right. Had some good weight on the bar for back squats, but overall the day wasn’t very intense. Readings like that keep me doubting the usefulness of HRV.

Out to the garage after 8am. Warmed up with 5:00 Air Dyne (2.23km).

Coffee Squats

2 Front Squats + 5 Back Squats

  • 45#
  • 135#
  • 185#
  • 225#
  • 245#
  • 265#
  • 280#

I put the belt on for the last two sets. Not only trying to go heavier through each day of this thing, but also trying to go a little longer without the belt too, to help build up the core muscles more. Last week I did 265# for this, so was a nice jump. Felt pretty heavy in the early sets. Just 15# shy of the most I’ve managed for this complex. That makes 21 days in a row.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 12 Incline DB Bench Press
  • 12 JM Press

I put the bench at 60° and used 40-45-50-50# for the incline bench work. Used 45-55-60-65# for the JM presses. Both felt heavier than last week. Maybe I’m still feeling the effects of “Cindy” from Thursday.

Not too long after this I started to feel shitty. Maybe that’s why my HRV was low this morning. Since Thursday night I’ve been feeling like allergies are hitting me, though I haven’t had any problems in a couple of years. If it wasn’t Sunday I think I might have stayed home and took a nap instead.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 1,000m Row
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Band Pass-thrus

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 MU

Was curious how this would go with the way I was feeling. Made every set without a problem. YAY!

Strength

5 Sets

  • 12 Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 5 Evil Wheels

Conditioning

“Kelly”
5 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 30 Box Jumps (24″)
  • 30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Only done this once before. It was a 32:22 almost 3 years ago. Warmest day of the year (so far) is a good day to do a long workout right? This was so bad. I started out with a sub 2:00 first 400 and knew that was too fast. I didn’t rebound any box jumps, but never stopped either. Did mostly step-downs, but some jump downs in the later rounds. Wall balls were two sets of 15 until I went 18-12 in the last round. Should have just went for all 30.

When I got in from my 3rd run the music had stopped. Bluetooth still showed connected but no sound. I think it took me close to 2 minutes to get it going again. The official clock time was 30:59 when I finished, but I’ll be conservative and only knock a minute off for a 29:59 since the rest helped me in a way too. Wish I would have felt closer to 100% today, but it’s still a PR.

Walked 200m, sat on my ass to recover, and then did Crossover Symmetry Plyometric.

Pressing Combo

Did a bunch of yard work yesterday and was feeling pretty beat up from the workout. My body isn’t used to those heavy clean and jerks. Got to bed early for a good night of sleep. My HRV is way down to 93 this morning, but only orange not red. Tomorrow is going to be my “rest” day this week because of plans I have today. Will take it a bit easy in the 9am class today. Out in the garage at 7:30 in the morning. Warmed up with 3:00 Air Dyne (1.42km).

Coffee Squats

Front Squats

  • 10×45#
  • 5×135#
  • 5×175#
  • 5×205#
  • 5×225#
  • 5×245#
  • 5×265#

Had to fight a little and concentrate on positions. Not so much that I felt compromised though. Wore a belt for the last 2 sets.

Body lies so much. Last rep felt much tougher than the video shows. Happy to be keeping pretty good positions throughout the set.

In for the 9am class…

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • PVC Pass-thrus

Accessory

5 Rounds

  • 30s Air Squats
  • 30s Rest

I got 24-26-27-28-29 for a total of 134. Burned, but pretty good.

Strength

2 Shoulder Press + 2 Push Press + 2 Push Jerk

  • 45#
  • 75#
  • 95#
  • 115#
  • 125#
  • 130#
  • 135#
  • 140#
  • 145#
  • 150#

Fun complex to get in extra work with the weight.

Conditioning

7:00 AMRAP

  • 7 Deadlifts (135#)
  • 14 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

Didn’t step on the gas and kept the load light. Did 6 rounds plus 7 deadlifts and 4 wall balls. 8+ is doable.

Did Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and the back/leg stretches before taking off. I’m interested to see what my HRV will end up being tomorrow. The front squats weren’t actually too far off the most I’ve done for a set of 5 and the pressing complex was pretty heavy, but I only went about 80% at the metcon.

2 Weeks of Squatting Every Day

I keep getting up earlier than usual and I’m not too happy about it. My upper body seems a little tight this morning from the 84 pull-ups. Didn’t rush out to the garage this morning since I have a lot more time to work with on Sunday mornings.

Switched it up with 100 Walking Lunges (20# vest) for my warm-up. It took me 4:30 to do them.

Coffee Squats

2 Front + 5 Back

  • 45#
  • 135#
  • 175#
  • 205#
  • 225#
  • 245#
  • 265#

Up 30 pounds over what I did last Sunday for this complex. This is the most weight I’ve had on the bar yet and it’s still well below the 295# I’ve done for this combo before.

That completes 14 days in a row at the squat rack. I’ll keep slowly increasing the weights and over the next two weeks I’ll hopefully be back to typical squatting loads. I’ve really been enjoying the morning squats as a way to kick off my day. Haven’t noticed any additional fatigue from them and don’t think they’ve been affecting my other training negatively. If anything they are probably helping. Don’t think I’ve mentioned the stretching routine recently, but I’ve been continuing to do it at least once a day, except when I do the 90 minute yoga workout.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 10 Incline DB Bench Press (45°, 40-45-50-50# DBs)
  • 10 JM Press (45-65-65-65#)

Going to try adding in some bench press accessory work on the weekends to see if it’ll help getting to 300#. Holy Shit! The JM Press is no fucking joke. There are a couple of variations out there. I used what looked to be the hardest one and I’m pretty sure I got that right. Wow!

I hope that didn’t smoke me too much for today’s workout. Super Sunday at noon…

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 1,500m Row (6:36)
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • C&J
    • 4×45#
    • 2×95#
    • 2×135#

Weightlifting

E2M 20:00

  • 2 C&J

Started with 155# and went up 10# each time, finishing at 245#. I think I wore the belt starting at 215#. Took my time with that last round, to make both reps. I squatted most of the reps but powered a few of the early ones when I wasn’t thinking. Last few rounds got rough. The cleans aren’t really a big deal for me, but I’m pumped to have made all of the jerks. We took about 5-10 minutes plus before starting the next part.

Conditioning

With a running clock, @ 0:00…
5:00 AMRAP

  • 5 MU
  • 10 Cleans (155#)

This is event 1 of the 2015 Masters Qualifier. Wanted to do some muscle-ups this weekend and this looked like a fun one to try. Was scared how this would go after all those heavy cleans, but it was just fine. I broke the MU into 3-2 every round and did relaxed singles for the cleans. Finished 2 rounds plus 5 muscle-ups and 2 cleans. It was fun doing some MU in a workout again.

I called on the group for some movements to make up the next two parts and then I came up with the rep schemes and how to split up the 4 movements.

@ 10:00…

  • 30 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 30 Push-ups
  • 30 Russian KBS (70#)

Wall balls and kettlebell swings were unbroken. I did the push-ups in 3 sets of 10. Finished in 2:50.

@ 20:00…

  • 150m Walking Lunges

I was excited when someone picked lunges and knew I had to put them solo. Finish the workout with a little Lunge University. 🙂 We went outside since it was a nice afternoon. I programmed it as 100 walking lunges, but after about 50 steps I went to chase Michelle down for extra credit since she was doing a lap. I don’t usually do them stepping through, but did to catch up and it’s so much faster doing them like that, but so much extra burn too. Finished in 4:03. I stopped counting the reps after deciding to go for the lap distance instead, but should have been about 150.

Midline

  • 60 Quarter Get-ups

Used a 53# KB and split this up into 10 reps per side at a time.

Knocked out Crossover Symmetry Plyometric before heading home. Kind of wanted to skip it, but was already feeling my shoulders smoked so I knew I should do it.

An hour or so later at home I am wrecked!

What Next Back?

Went to the 5:30 class since it’s bench night

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • 2 Rounds
    • 5 Strict C2B Pull-ups
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats

I pretty much always do my strict pull-ups chest-to-bar now. Why stop with just the chin over the bar if it’s a manageable number of reps?

Strength

Was supposed to be an alternating EMOM of bench press and Pendlay rows. Since we bench after class I wasn’t going to do more in class. I figured I’d hit some taller box jumps I warmed up with 5 jumps at 24″ and 10×45#, 5×135#, and 2×185# for Pendlay rows. I made it through a round of 5×185# rows and 10 box jumps at 30″. After 2 reps on the 2nd round of rows my back tweaked hard. WTF! Would never have expected to do anything with this movement since the back is pretty much just holding a stable position. Guess I wasn’t doing those movements anymore today, so I switched over to the RH.

4 Sets

  • 10 Reverse Hyper (210#)

Conditioning

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

  • Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • Pull-ups
  • Ball Slams (25#)

Had a goal to go unbroken the whole way and did. Finished in 7:08.

Midline

Class did a tabata plank hold, so I made it a goal to not rest at all. Made it through the entire 4 minutes to beat my PR old 2:57 hold on the elbows.

No B.S. Bench Press

Week 5 of the program. Shoulders and upper body were already warm from the workout, so didn’t need much to get going.

  • 5×135#
  • 5×185#
  • 4x4x215#

It felt like my right arm was lagging behind a hair on some reps, but other than that it was solid and with good speed on the bar.

2015 CrossFit Games Open Workout 15.3

I was happy to see what Castro announced for 15.3. Was pretty excited to give it a shot today. Got to the gym a little after 5:15 to start warming up.

Warm-up

  • 1,000m Row
  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • PVC pass-thrus
  • Bottom Squat Holds
  • 1 Muscle-up
  • 5 Wall Balls

Wanted to get that one rep in there since sometimes I fall through on my first one in a workout.

2015 CrossFit Games Open Workout 15.3

14:00 AMRAP

  • 7 MU
  • 50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 100 DU

My goal was to get 2 rounds plus at least another muscle-up. I planned to go 3-2-2 on the first set, get a double on the second set and then do doubles or singles, whatever I could do. Planned for 15-15-10-10 on the first set of wall balls or 5 sets of 10 depending how I felt coming off the rings and then sets of 10 for the other round. Hoped to cut myself off at 40 double unders and do 3 sets each round.

Things played out a bit differently and mostly for the better. Easy muscle-ups the first round with 3-2-2, so I went 15-15-10-10 on wall balls, but missed more than I’d like on the rope. Was done in under 5:00 I think when I figured 5:30 was a best case scenario. Went 2-2-2-1 on the rings and 5 sets of 10 on the wall, then a little struggle on the rope again, but 5 sets I think. Finished that second round at 11:37, way ahead of where I expected. Felt decent up there so busted out 3-2-2. Not sure where that came from. I guess I should have trusted all the muscle-up work more because it sure paid off. Then I just tried to get as many wall balls as I could before time ran out and got 27 for 348 total reps. Pumped!

IMG_5717

That was a fun workout and one I’ll try again in a few months.

Oh, and get this, about 15-20 minutes after the workout I did a strict muscle-up for the first time with no problem. WTF! Guess I just need those muscles really warmed up to do it.

Limit Your Burpees

Took a complete rest day yesterday. First one since February 6th. Drove me nuts, but I needed it. Shoulders were pretty wrecked from Sunday.

Strength

Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 6×75#
  • 6×95#
  • 6x6x115#

Recommended at 65%. Fast quality reps. Felt good not to struggle.

Conditioning

Wall Ball “Kalsu”

  • EMOM: 5 burpees (including @ 0:00)
  • Accumulate 100 wall balls (20#, 10′)

My goal was sub 6 and I made it. It’s a little fuzzy, but I think I was at 22-38-53-68-83 for my minutes, so I had 17 to go at the end. Knew I didn’t want to do another 5 burpees for a rep or two, so went a little faster through that 5th minute of burpees and sped up the wall balls to finish with time to spare in 5:54. Good mental battle with this one.

Midline

5 Rounds

  • 10 Sit-ups
  • 20 Russian Twists (53# KB)
  • 30s Plank

Went all unbroken. Took me 8:25.

Something I’ve realized in the last few days is that after cutting back my volume leading up to the Open, I’ve been feeling great during workouts.

More Than I Bargained For

Needed that rest day yesterday, but it’s so hard not to do anything. Got a massage in the afternoon. In early this morning before the 10am class to get in some extra work.

Warm-up

  • 2k Row – 7:55.5

Gymnasty

E30S until fail

  • 2 MU

Made it through 14+1 and failed on muscle-up #30. I wanted that last one so bad. Smoked the total number of reps from doing 1 every 15 seconds. One big chunk of rest makes a big difference.

Accessory

5 Rounds

  • 5 Seated Good Mornings (165#)
  • 10 Weighted GHD Sit-ups (20# MB)

Yuck. Took 7:11.

Had a little rest time before class got going.

Row

3 Rounds

  • 3:00 slow (~2:25-2:30/500m)
  • 1:00 @ 90% (~1:45/500m)

Then another 2:00 slow to cool down, so 14:00 total. Went 3,115 meters.

Conditioning

Partner WOD

  • Buy-in: 50 Burpees
  • 4 Rounds
    • 12 C&J
    • 40 Wall Balls
  • Cash-out: 50 Burpees

Paired up with Dan. We alternated 5 burpees each, 3 C&J each, and 10 wall balls each through all of our sets. I used 155# for the C&J for a challenge, doing quick singles in the first 3 rounds, then I did 3 TnG and 2-1 in the 4th round. We finished in 15:44.

Midline

3 Rounds NFT

  • Partner MB Pass Complex
    • 8 Chest MB Passes
    • 8 OH MB Passes
    • 8/8 Side MB Passes
    • 8 Up MB Passes
  • 8 Back Extensions

I used a 20# medicine ball for the complex. We did 2 times through the complex, then switched over to the back extensions, where I used a 45# bar for my second and third set. Then we went back for our final round of the passes.

Double Morning

I’m kind of sore from the good mornings on Monday. Needed the recovery day yesterday, but really wanted to workout in the afternoon. Ready to be back at it today after another solid 9 hours of sleep. In before the 9am class for some extra work.

Warm-up

  • 14:00 Row

Had planned on holding a 5k pace, but decided against it on the drive in. Just had a feeling and it was a good call because I wasn’t feeling it during the row. Kept under a 2:05 pace for 3,369 meters.

Gymnastics

16:00 EMOM alternating

  • 3 Bar MU
  • 12 HR Push-ups

The bar muscle-ups are feeling so easy; I can’t believe it. I guess it worked out well not working on them until I was decent with MU on the rings and my pull-ups improved . I pretty much got to skip that whole phase most people seem to go through, where they get one arm over the bar with a lot of strain on the shoulders and elbows, then fight to pull the rest of their body and other arm over. I’m getting over right into the dip position with no problem. 🙂 Good number of sets too because I took a little piece of skin off my thumb in the last round. Might have to start taping my thumbs or figure out how not to feel that pull on the skin as my body swings back under the bar.

Had a few minutes to rest before class got going.

Weightlifting

C&J

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95#
  • 3×135#
  • 3×155#

I had planned on doing some full cleans and split jerks, but the quad was not feeling up for it after trying them with 95#.

Then we got into the meat of the workout, with a running clock.

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 C&J (175#)

Didn’t try touch-n-go until the last round and got it. Wish I had started out TnG and then switched to singles when I couldn’t hold on to the bar. Will know better for next time.

3:00 Rest

3 Rounds

  • 45s Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 15s Rest

Worst part of the workout, but not terrible by any means. I did 21-20-21 reps. Should have been all 21s but I wasted 2 seconds at the end of the 2nd round because I thought I heard the time differently.

Oh, I wore lifters for the lifts and wall balls.

3:00 Rest

10:00 EMOM

  • 3 Deadlifts (5 sets 275#, 5 sets 295#)
  • 5 Burpees

Wore a belt and went shoeless. Weight felt good so bumped it up for the 2nd half. Kept a pretty good clip on the burpees, doing each round in about 17-18 seconds.

It’s kind of nice having the extra work done already for the day, though I do have to clear the snow out of the driveway at some point since we got another 2-3 inches last night.

SUPER bowl SUNDAY

First real chunk of snow for the year is coming down today. February 1st and I haven’t even started my snowblower yet. Doesn’t stop us from having Super Sunday though.

Warm-up

  • 1,000m Row – 3:58.8
  • 100m Row @ 100% – 16.0 seconds
  • Bottom Squat Holds
  • Various Stretching
  • 5×45# Hang Muscle Snatch
  • 5×95# Muscle Snatch

Figured I’d give a 100m row time a go again. Beat my old time by 0.4 seconds.

Benchmark

“Isabel”

  • 30 Snatches (135#)

First time doing this, so wasn’t sure what to expect. My plan was to do doubles as long as I could, but after 2×2 I abandoned that and did singles the rest of the way. Last 5-10 reps sucked and had to be so ugly. Time was 2:37.

Gymnastics

12:00 EMOM

  • Odds: 10 C2B Pull-ups
  • Evens: 10 Box Jumps (24″)

Worked on an efficient butterfly with the pull-ups and fast cycling with my box jumps. Felt good!

Strength

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95#
  • 5×135#
  • 3×185#
  • 3×205#
  • 3×220#
  • 3×230#
  • 3×240# (PR)

I had my numbers planned out and they ended up being perfect for a 10# PR. Puts my estimated max up in the 260s. Not bad for benching about once a month.

Conditioning

  • 100 DU
  • 50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 100 DU

The goal here was to do the wall balls unbroken and it sucked! Without setting that as a goal for the workout, I’d always split something like this up. It definitely made the last dubs a lot harder, but good to know what’s possible for future workouts. My time was 5:27.